Manchester United level as Chelsea and Arsenal suffer shock defeats

Manchester United moved into joint-first place today in the Premier League after a 2-0 defeat to nine-man Wigan, while their closest rivals Arsenal and Chelsea slumped to upset defeats to Birmingham and Tottenham Hotspur.

Goals from Patrice Evra and Javier Hernandez were enough to assure victory over the Latics, who struggled after South American duo Hugo Rodallega and Antolin Alcaraz were both shown red cards, while Wayne Rooney earned a somewhat mixed reception from fans on his Old Trafford return.

Chelsea, meanwhile, continued their poor run of form with a shock 1-0 defeat to Birmingham, who can dedicate their victory to a first-half Lee Bowyer strike and another virtuoso performance from Ben Foster between the sticks. The importance of United’s victory was further heightened by a second-half meltdown from Arsenal, who squandered their chance to go top of the league by throwing away a 2-0 lead to fall 2-3 to their bitter North London rivals Tottenham Hotspurs in the arguable game of the day.

In addition to Spurs, Bolton moved up to joint-fourth position with billionaires Manchester City (playing tomorrow) with a stunning 5-1 victory over the inconsistent Newcastle United, with reborn striker Johann Elmander and recent England callup Kevin Davies scoring twice.

Blackpool also got a much-needed 2-1 victory over 19^th-placed Wolves, who have now lost their fourth Premier League game in a row since upsetting Manchester City in late October.

Finally, Stoke City got a third successive victory with a 3-0 away drubbing of West Brom, who now find themselves without a win in five games. Matthew Etherington opened the scoring with a 55^th minute penalty, while substitute Jon Walters finished off Robert Di Matteo’s side with a late brace.